What is Compliance?

Compliance regulations and the Chain of Responsibility play an important role in Australia's transport and logistics industry.
There are several measures to be considered before a company can ensure they are running a safe and compliant operation. These factors include ensuring all drivers are fit for duty and abide with laws and
regulations along with the vehicle combinations meeting size and weight regulations.

The Australian government and its jurisdictions have put laws and regulations in place with safety in mind. These laws are split into four main categories,
aimed at keeping Australian communities safe, creating a greener environment and keeping transport operator responsibilities at check.

Non-compliance can result in heavy fines along with the grounding of vehicles. This can leave companies in trouble and put a dent into operational efficiencies and productivity loss.

What are the types of Compliance?

There are four main areas of compliance law, regulation and legislation in Australia. There are no more excuses or exemptions. These include:

Fatigue

Drivers adhering to their assigned fatigue rule sets.

Mass

Not exceeding a vehicles' mass and configuration limits.

Speed

Vehicles and Drivers not exceeding the speed limits.

Maintenance

Vehicles remaining well maintained and roadworthy at all times.

Adhering to compliance regulations under the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) can result in a highly successful operation.

Compliance provides major benefits to the operator, wider community and the transport and logistics industry.

Why should I Comply?Click here to find out!

Why should I Comply?

Compliance is a day-to-day consideration for transport companies and their operating staff and drivers. Companies are constantly advised to operate as if an auditor is to walk through the door each and every day.

There are the obvious benefits to abiding by the law or taking up compliance schemes. Simple benefits such as a reduction in the number of speeding infringements received or
keeping permits or program accreditation because vehicle configuration and mass limits were not exceeded.

There are also the ‘not so obvious’ reasons, some you may already know - although some may be a bit of a surprise.

Fatigue Management

30% of severe single vehicle crashes in rural areas involved the driver being fatigued.

Source: TAC Fatigue Statistics.

The Fatigue Management laws in Australia are complex and at the same time, the responsibility for managing fatigue is no longer left with drivers.

Everyone in the transport chain is now responsible to ensure all necessary steps are taken to prevent driver fatigue violations.

The new laws are consistent with current obligations under Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) laws that require employers and employees to take all reasonable and practical steps to manage fatigue.

There are a number of different fatigue rule sets; these vary from state to state.

Click here to find out exactly what these Fatigue Management Rule Sets are!

Standard Hours are the default limits for work and rest that suit most transport operators.
It sets out minimum rest and maximum work hours and includes basic record keeping requirements.

Basic Fatigue Management (BFM) accreditation offers more flexible hours while retaining the ability to work 14-hour shifts.
It gives operators a greater influence over when drivers can work and rest providing the risks of working long and night hours are properly managed.

Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM) is a risk management approach to managing fatigue opposed to prescribing work and rest hours.
This approach offers more flexible hours in return for the operator demonstrating greater accountability for managing fatigue risks. Under AFM, drivers may be allowed to split their continuous
rest break for more flexibility.

Western Australia Rule Sets; due to the longer travel distances faced by operators in WA, a specific set of rules have been created,
differing from the rule sets of the eastern states.

Did you know?

Drivers who have been awake for 24 hours will have driving performance similar to a person with a BAC of 0.1 g/100ml. They are seven times more likely to have an accident.

Source: TAC Fatigue Statistics.

It alters the focus from regulating hours to managing fatigue.

Working long hours and fighting your body clock at night are widely recognised as high-risk activities. Operators and drivers who do the right thing by managing the risks through
accreditation schemes will have a greater say in when drivers can work and rest. Electronic Work Diaries (EWDs) provide a great tool to managing fatigue from the depot and in-vehicle, all in real-time.

Speed Management

Speeding is a major issue on Australian roads, accounting for 34% of the road-toll1. Drivers must be aware of the vehicle's speed - abiding by the law reduces the number of infringements and
demerit points received along with safer roads.

Operators can create incentive programs to get driver buy-in all whilst keeping drivers from speeding or implement speeding alerts for drivers with
Intelligent Speed Management (ISM) solutions and the information it provides.

Policies and procedures around speed monitoring and management must be created and enforced in the workplace. If VicRoads or RMS walked in the door
and asked what your speed monitoring policy was, what would you say? Could you produce it and show it in practice?

Did you know?

In Victoria, 146 speeding infringements are issued per hour. That is more than two infringements a minute, over 3,500 day, exceeding 1.2 million a year.

Intelligent Speed Management (ISM) is a set of minimum operating requirements necessary to accurately measure vehicle speed using GPS enabled devices.
ISM solutions are tools for drivers, providing a second line-of-defence to manage speed.

GPS, an example of ISM, is the most common Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) used in telematics systems. ISM provides the tools for transport operators
to create responsible driving habits, helping reduce the number of infringements and demerit points gained due to excessive speeding. This proactive approach by operators is
a great and responsible technique for the management of compliance within the Chain of Responsibility.

Vehicle Maintenance

Did you know?

As of 2013, there are over 325,000 heavy vehicles registered on Australian roads. Over 34,000 of these were issued warnings and defect notices in NSW alone. That's over 10% in one state!

If operating under Concessional or Higher Mass Limits, NHVAS regulations require operators to keep track of their vehicles' state of roadworthiness.

How this is monitored is up to the operator to devise and the NHVR to approve. Electronic tools can provide a simple way to record checklists of vehicle conditions and fitness for duty.

Mass Compliance

Government law, jurisdictional regulation and legislation govern vehicle configurations and mass limits along with the road network that can be travelled on.

Transport operators must abide to the prescribed mass limits and vehicle configurations on the undertaken route. The Australian road network is designed with specific routes to
be undertaken that allow for higher mass limits and larger vehicle configurations. The following outlines the three main types of limits imposed to freight carrying capacity and configuration.

What are these mass limits? Click here to find out

Gross Mass Limits (GML) applies to general access vehicles with unrestricted access to the road system. The GML is the maximum mass and
configuration a vehicle can freight prior to applying for permits.

Concessional Mass Limits (CML) means the operator can apply to carry more freight by managing the mass declarations of each vehicle prior
to its journey resulting in a 5% increase in freight and increase in vehicle

Higher Mass Limits (HML) means the operator can further apply to carry even more freight by managing the mass declarations of each vehicle prior
to its journey through a restricted road network. Please note, Higher Mass Limits requires the operator to be enrolled under the IAP for NSW and QLD.

Did you know?

Heavy vehicle stations and on-road enforcement in NSW issued more than 7,000 infringement notices due to weight breaches during 2011-12.

Source: NSW Roads & Maritime 2011/12 Compliance Information.

Safety

Safety is recognised as one of the most important factors in the formation of new laws, regulations, legislation, compliance schemes and the Chain of Responsibility in not only Australia, but the world.

Did you know?

The annual economic cost of road crashes in Australia is enormous - estimated at $27 billion - and the social impacts are devastating.

Source: Australian Government Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

The importance of safety in the industry

Following compliance laws and regulations can be stressful. The required tasks form the basis of safety in the transport and logistics industry. It can often result in increased
levels of on-road safety for the industry and the general public.

Providing the means for staff and drivers to comply helps create a safe and responsible work environment and can alter driving behaviour for the better.

Providing ongoing support, training and guidance can help gain driver buy-in to policies and procedures around compliance, directly correlating to a safe and happy work environment for all.

Sub Contractors

Subcontractors play an important role in the transport industry.

Did you know?

Over 79% of all transport operators use sub-contractors in their fleets.

The government, jurisdictions and enforcement place a heavy emphasis on the Chain of Responsibility (CoR), compliance and safety within the industry.

Where does the subcontractor fit within the CoR and the industry?

100% of all large transport operator use subcontractors in some capacity 1. With this in mind, Work Safe Australia has hit the road and spread the word throughout conferences in 2014 with a message;
subcontractors and their obligations to the CoR are a transport operator's responsibility. Operators can no longer afford to overlook their subcontractors.

How transport operatorscan achieve compliance

The iFace by Transtech is a unique all-in-one compliance tool that enables drivers and operators to access to a wide range of applications. These applications include IAP mass declarations,
Mass Manager and Pre-Trip Checklist for NHVAS, Sentinel fatigue management, SpeedAssist for speed compliance and much more. The user-friendly device is practically designed and boasts a flexible platform for the
delivery of multiple solutions on a single device.

Sentinel is a tried and proven Electronic Work Diary that can ensure a transport operator and its drivers are in the position to comply with all fatigue laws and
rule sets implemented across Australia.

SpeedAssist is a driver tool that assists in maintaining safe driving practices across all operating fleets. The simple and powerful application provides audio and
visual alerts to inform drivers of speeding and enables them to take preventative measures.

Pre-Trip Checklist is a tool that allows the operating driver or depot staff to go through a pre-defined checklist of vehicle, trailer and/or driver safety in order
to start their journey under the NHVAS rules.

Mass Manager provides drivers with the ability to record axle group mass and vehicle configuration directly on the iFace as required under NHVAS regulations.

Watch the video to find out more about the iFace, NextGen and Transtech’s applications

PAYG Compliance

Introducing Transtech's Pay As You Go (PAYG) solution.

Join leading transport operators today with Transtech's PAYG transport fatigue and compliance solution. This cloud-based technology offers a
revolutionary management system that is affordable for all companies, whether it's an owner-driver through to multi-fleet national operations.

From one small monthly payment, the PAYG Compliance Plan allows operators to easily comply with complex and ever-changing
regulatory requirements in Australia.

Automation

Syncing information between the driver and back-office staff

The applications available on the iFace and NextGen share information between operating drivers and back-office staff -
The immediate notification of the information provides operators with a holistic view of the operation. This creates an entirely
new window of insight into the operation, allowing for management and staff to make clear and more decisive actions, quicker and easier than ever.

Senior Management is rest assured they've made better decisions because they have information previously unattainable in such a timely manner.

The back-office can view the current fatigue status of their drivers at any given time and can create accurate fatigue
and driver reports based on the event history calculated against the associated rule sets.

See detailed driver speeding information as the event occurs, allowing staff to take immediate corrective action.
Instant alerts are delivered to the back-office via NextGen's notification system and/or email/SMS.

Create reports that show completed checklists on vehicle and driver readiness for duty.

Create reports showing the declared mass of each vehicle for any time period.

Regulatory Programs

Compliance to Regulatory Programs, such as the IAP or NHVAS, can often provide assurance of compliance to CoR legislation.

The requirements of being enrolled to such programs mean you’re already leading the charge into running a compliant operation.
The basis of regulatory programs are to provide you, the operator, a list of benefits in exchange for being enrolled. Benefits such as the ability to carry
more weight or unlocking specific vehicles for specific jobs.

Transtech is the premier provider of IAP services and provides services to the majority of transport operators under the program.
Why is this? Put simply, our levels of customer service combined with our expertise and variety of value added options place us in an enviable position in the market.

Transtech provides operators with a suite of applications that can help comply with the requirements that the NHVAS sets forth.
This includes fatigue, mass, vehicle and speed tools that provide a means for drivers to manage their compliance efforts whilst the back-office can monitor.

The Interim On board Mass Program provides operators with the opportunity to increase payload and utilise vehicle combinations
that have not been previously possible, including PBS A-Doubles, Truck and Dogs along with Road Trains. It helps provide unprecedented access to local ports,
increasing operational efficiency and gains in productivity.